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Dental caries in American Indian toddlers after a community-based beverage intervention

Gerardo Maupomé1, Njeri Karanja, Cheryl Ritenbaugh

  • 1Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, Indiana University School of Dentistry, 415 Lansing Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202-2876, USA. gmaupome@iupui.edu

Ethnicity & Disease
|February 11, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Simple interventions reduced early childhood caries (ECC) in American Indian toddlers by limiting sweetened beverage access. These feasible and acceptable strategies effectively lowered tooth decay trends in the Pacific Northwest.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Pediatric Dentistry
  • Community Health Interventions

Background:

  • Early childhood caries (ECC) poses a significant health burden, particularly in vulnerable populations.
  • The Toddler Overweight and Tooth Decay Prevention Study (TOTS) addressed ECC and overweight issues in American Indian (AI) toddlers.
  • High rates of tooth decay necessitate effective prevention strategies in young children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of interventions on breastfeeding and sweetened beverage consumption in AI toddlers.
  • To reduce the incidence of early childhood caries (ECC) and overweight in a target population.
  • To assess the feasibility and acceptability of interventions within AI communities.

Main Methods:

  • A longitudinal study design involving intervention, comparison, and control cohorts.
  • Recruitment of expectant mothers through prenatal visits and tribal coordinators.
  • Utilized d1-2mfs to identify incident caries over 18-30 months of follow-up.

Main Results:

  • No missing or filled teeth were observed in the intervention groups.
  • Statistically significant reductions in the fraction of affected mouths for d1t (0.300-0.631) and d2t (0.342-0.449).
  • Intervention cohorts demonstrated improvements in d1t and d2t, even with an estimated secular increase in caries.

Conclusions:

  • Targeted interventions reducing sweetened beverage availability are effective in curbing high tooth decay trends.
  • These prevention strategies were found to be feasible and acceptable within the studied AI communities.
  • Simple, community-based interventions can significantly impact pediatric oral health outcomes.
Abstract

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